I testified on at the Maryland State House last week about improving the Forest Conservation Act for the State of Maryland. The state law is a slimmed-down version of what we are trying to pass locally. Forests = clean water, clean air, and livable communities.

Rob Savidge, an environmental scientist, quit his job with the Annapolis city government over the way the city interpreted the law. He's now pushing to strengthen the state law to avoid what he views as pitfalls that let developers negotiate out of replanting trees.

"There's always going to be a net loss of forest under the way the law is written," he said. "If we want to stop that, we're going to have to change it."